It's also used to describe the tendency of a car to follow irregularities in the road surface at any time, not just braking. It's possible that such a tendency might be exaggerated under braking when the car's weight is transferred to the front end.

Thanks AQA101 for the description of the high speed behavior of the car. It's nice to know that it's so stable. I've read articles that have described certain Porsches as being "white knuckle" experiences at high speed.

 

well i was driving in a straight line.. but on the occaisonal hump or whever that I paid attention to, the car felt very light, like it'd fly away as you went over it. There was no pulling, and braking was fine and straight. Also the thing slows down FAST when you let off the gas.

 

I'd rather drive 120mph+ in the middle of nowhere ( say less than 1 car per mile ) than drive anywhere in bumper to bumper traffic.

 

I have had my 8 upto 238kph (approx 146mph) on the freeway. The car felt glued down and braking was no trouble at all. My car gets alot of track time, but unfortunately the track I go to I can only get up to 170kph on the straight.

 

hmm. I doubt the highways in Michigan would allow such endeavors. Potholes are the rule here.. lol

 

There are plenty of places in this fine land of ours, especially in the southwest, where a) you can find literally miles and miles of roads that get about 1 car or less an hour; and b) you can safely see ahead for several of those miles.

Unfortunately, my -8 and myself are in the Chicago area where none of those roads exist, so my high-speed travel has been limited to short bursts on the interstate when you have a mile or two between "packs" of traffic - best I've ever seen on my speedo is less than 120.

That said, I think of quite a few places out in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, west Texas, etc. where you can really light it up. One of the best spots for this I've ever been to is on Colorado state highway 17, driving south between Moffat and Hooper, CO. It's literally downhill all the way for about 30 miles right there. Back a number of years ago (nearly 18 years ago now) my dad and I were driving his car - he had an Audi 5000S Turbo Quattro - on a vacation that included fly fishing in the Vail area, and serious tequila drinking in Taos. Driving from Vail to Taos, we came on this stretch of road and decided to stretch the car's legs - let's just say it cruised very comfortably for a large, 5-passenger sedan - and got out to about 140 mph for a sustained stretch there. You could see the road ahead well beyond what is normally the horizon due to the slight downhill nature of it, and it was good, smooth, clean asphalt. My dad kept a pair of binoculars in his lap and would occasionally scan ahead for any traffic either oncoming or in our lane. There was none for a 30-mile-plus stretch. Fantastic. The only "side road" potential there was the occasional access road to a cattle ranch.

So, I tend to disagree with the blanket statement that any time you're on a public road and doing more than the posted limit that you're endangering the lives of others. That said, high speed driving does take the appropriately required attention - of looking far ahead, being sure that you won't overtake someone at a ridiculous rate of closeing, making sure you're not meeting any oncoming traffic (if on a two-lane highway), etc. Let alone the vigilance required to not get busted for speeding.

 

I was going around a slight turn at 137mph and the car's front end felt a little light. I do not have any ground effects, but I do have the stock rear wing.
I'm pretty sure that a front air dam would take care of the problem.

High speeds are best left for the track, but there are times when certain roads are clear for miles and miles. The main thing to remember is stopping takes a very long time when you are going really (120+) fast. As soon as you see a car, you should slow down. If there are any side roads on your high speed course, you are potentially endangering another life. People don't always think when they pull out... I know because I ride a motorcycle several months of the year.

Speed can kill, but running lights and stop signs kills more often.


Alex

 

I have run the RX8 @ 158 mph (254 km/h) and still have the feel that 168 mph was very (VERY) possible. I was not comfortable at 158 though and I relaxed the right foot.

My RX8 is absolutely stock (Spain-Euro version).

Cheers

jird20

 

Around a year ago when I first got my MT 6spd 8 I opened her up on a safe straight level road and when I hit 9k RPM it was right at 151MPH and had traffic coming up so I dropped it in Neutral and just coasted up to the traffic. I would have liked to have popped it into 6th and seen what it would top out at in sixth but I didnt have that option with traffic coming up. I have no doubt in my mind that it would have hit 167MPH at all. And it really felt glued to the ground and smooth as can be. I didnt have any real curves to deal with. So 151 at 9K RPM in 5th is the most I have done. I really wanted to hit that last gear soo bad but didnt want to kill anyone.

 

Proper tests that I've seen, which are corrected to all sorts of factors and using a two way average, have been anywhere from 144 to 149mph. A Euro mag I have quoted 155, but I have no idea how they attained that.

Indicated times (on your speedo) will usually show higher than actual.

 

Damn, I have an AT, my car stalls at about 125mph, but on down hill I can get about 140ish and the car seems to start flying, which is very horrifying, btw, 5th gear (07 AT) and I have to semi shift it, because the stupid auto always randomly shifts to 6th gear, but dude seriously, who the hell wants to drive beyond that, I drove 125 for like 35seconds and everything started to become a blur and seriously, its kinda scary @.@

EDIT: for real though, I am positive that rx-8 drivers are one of the safest sports car drivers, ever been on CA-60? hello race-highway

 

Rear end was on blocks.

 

04 MT top i hit was 149 and still felt safe but not safe enough to keep climbing lol i have a picture of my odo going 137

 

These threads are so funny... It's OK to talk about going 140 in your RX-8 on here but if you talk about racing some guy up to the speedlimit people freak out. I'm sorry, but going 140+ on public roads is more idiotic than most street races, and it's just as illegal.

So... Street racing is illegal and RX-8 club does not condone it so don't post about it, but if you want to talk about going 140+ on public roads knock yourself out!

 

^ Has anyone ever claimed consistency in the rules around here? [/rhetorical]

 

no, these stories are just as idiotic as the street racers. so lets see, they have revived this thread to talk about going 150+ and then had traffic and then someone else thought it was not only a good idea to go 137mph but hey, that's not dumb enough let me break out the camera phone and take a picture of that.

 

thats so cool taking a pic of you going 137!!! what made you do so?

is it the thrill of not looking at the road while speeding uber fast?
the thrill of "hey, am I gonna hit something while not looking"?
or is it fun to just let go of the steering wheel doing 3 digits for a while
hey, maybe its just the joy of TRYING to kill yourself?

whoknows!

 

I just want to point out to help understanding that when you talk about high speeds like this pretty much anything hanging off of the car will add to drag and decrease your top speed. The best illustration to this is the side mirrors on a car like KYLiquid eluded to. Car companies have been looking for ways to eliminate side mirrors (usually by replacing them with cameras). The biggest reason for them to do this is to increase fuel efficiency in their cars. This because the side mirrors add a considerable amount of drag and thus removing them would increase fuel efficiency. Same principle is true for top speed.

 

This was achieved on a dark road with rain and some black ice... there must have been like 5-7 mothers and their babies crossing the street, it was too unsafe for me to swerve at such speeds... so i left it to luck and kept it as straight as i could and prayed they didn't scratch my paint

I had to take both hands off the wheel to take the picture while playing with the menu to find the right settings. I may have veered over the double line for about 45 seconds when i wasn't looking.

I eventually had to slow down cause some jerk on his cell phone was going about 5 under the limit... what a jerk.

 

^^^^
Holy **** thats quick! How long did it take to get up to that speed?
Fastest I've done in my AT is 203km/h and many people on this forum have said the AT is Limited to around 185km/h-190km/h. I've exceeded those speeds many times but getting above 200km/h in my AT is very tough.

 

LMAO! That's hilarious, I mean, it's unsafe to do that on the public road but your explanation is hilarious.

 

Anyways, someone on this forum provided us with a basic RPM to Speed chart that's VERY accurate.



Credit goes out to whoever posted this.

 

I got to 147 going downhill w/2 other people in the car...but that was about all it had. I'm thinking had i ben alone, it would have pushed a littttttle harder bc i weigh next to nothing.

 

should always fear ANYBODY with a unibrow that thick. period!

 

136 before I ran out of straight road, with my dad in the car. His comment? "Doesn't feel that fast..."

I haven't done it again, but hey, you just have to find out for yourself how fast it goes.